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Robert Baldwin (Earth-616)
Creators: Steve Ditko Real Name: Robbie Baldwin Occupation: Superhero Identity: Secret, but New Warriors members and his mother are aware of his ID Marital Status: Single Group Affiliation: New Warriors, also formerly unnamed group of "Friends" Base of Operations: Mobile, but formerly New Warriors Headquarters Place of Birth: Springdale, Connecticut Known Relatives: Mother Maddie Baldwin, Father Baldwin First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22, (chronologically) Speedball #1 Origin: Robbie and his professor's cat, named Niels were caught in a lab accident at Hammond Labs. Powers Known Powers: Speedball is encased by a kinetic "energy bubble" which causes him to bounce. History Robbie Baldwin was accidentally caught in an experiment of Dr. Benson at Hammond Labs. This converted him into the "Masked Marvel" Speedball, a being of pure kinetic energy whose sole power is the ability to bounce into others. However, he can also harness this energy and direct it more forcefully, or alternately use it as a bubble / shield to protect others, catch others, and even stop moving objects, like bullets, in mid-air. Speedball really came into his own as a member of the New Warriors. Night Thrasher had actually not intended for him to join the team, but his arrival and assistance in the battle against Terrax in issue #1 of the series convinced Thrash to let him join. Over the years, Speedy would become close friends with all his teammates, although his best relationships were with "Bucket-Head" Nova, Darkhawk, and Timeslip, his (sort-of) girlfriend. Speedball was also a member of a team consisting of Spider-Man, Nova, and Darkhawk, which fought a group of teens who gained super powers when they picked up energy crystals which Darkhawk had been using to heal his body. Speedball II Speedball was actually replaced by Darrion Grobe a teenager from the Marvel 2099 universe in Issue #50 of the original series, and did not reappear again until New Warriors #70. In fact, Darrion had programmed his own personality to go into remission whilst in Speedball form, so it was later determined that all actions made by Speedball II would have been the same actions Robbie would have made. This whole story was rather convoluted, and actually was not the original intention of the New Warriors writers, who wanted it discovered that Robbie Baldwin had actually died back at the accident at Hammond Labs, and had been replaced by a being of pure kinetic energy. Powers Speedball was originally seen as a "joke" character. All he could do was bounce around without much control over his powers. However, in his years as a member of the New Warriors, he developed considerably. He gained the ability to manipulate his kinetic field to extend out to either attack an enemy or block a projectile. His "bubbles" could also be contained in a telekinetic field (see: Justice) and then launched as an intense attack. Later, Robbie would also discover that his entire body was in fact an aspect of the "kinetic dimension," and that each bubble represented a moment in time. Category:New Warriors members ---- Trivia * Robbie's height increases when he becomes Speedball, and his hair turns "jello-y" and his voice "hollow." * Robbie once faced and defeated the Sphinx by stealing all the Sphinx's energies out of him. This particular ability has never been reused. ---- Bibliography * Speedball #1-10 * New Warriors Vol. 1 #1-50, (Speedball II replaced him for 51-70), 71-75 * New Warriors Vol. 2 #0-10 * New Warriors Vol. 3 #1 * The Amazing Spider-Man: Friends and Enemies #1-4 ---- External Links: * New Warriors Continuity Conundrum ---- Return to Character Selection ----